Páginas

Mothers Day Baking

Thursday, 27 March 2014

Hi There Honeybee's

Mothers Day is approaching & its time to think about how we are going to spoil our mum's and show them how much we love them!

My mum does so much for me - even now that I've moved out, and I really like to show her how much I appreciate that - especially on mothers day. We had a Party for my mum Last weekend (as she is away on holiday on mothers day), and it was a lovely way to get together and spend time with family!

As well as giving a gift, I always like to hand make something - it shows that you really put thought into the gift and spent time to make something that they would really like.

An easy way to do this, is to bake - whether you are a baking novice or an experienced chef, baking is a fun past time in which you can get creative and make a one off for someone special!

So, in this post, I am going to show you some easy tricks to make some beautiful cakes, Just for your mum, with one basic recipe! <3 This is a basic sponge recipe that I use for nearly all my cupcakes & will make you 10 large cupcakes.

. 110g (4.5oz) softened Butter

. 110g (4.5 oz) Caster Sugar

. 2 Beaten Free-Range Eggs

. 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence

. 110g (4.5 oz) Self Raising Flour

. 1 Tablespoon Milk

1. Start By Pre-heating your oven to 180C (350F/Gas4), this will allow for an even temperature in the oven once your cupcakes go in! Also Prepare your Muffin tray with 10 cases!

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter & sugar well, until pale & creamy.

3. Gradually add in the beaten eggs & vanilla essence - mixing well.

4. Then, sift in the flour and gently fold it into the mixture. If it is still a little stiff, slowly add the milk until you have a creamy consitency which will drop well.

5. Evenly divide the mixture between your cupcake cases and bake them for 20 minutes (or until golden)

6. Remove the cakes from the muffin tray and allow to cool completley before you begin to decorate!

Lets start with the Rose Petals, as they take a while to dry! You're going to need;

. 20 Rose Petals (any colour you'd like!)

. 1 beaten Egg

. Caster Sugar

- First you need to pull the petals from the rose - do this gently to ensure that they dont rip, pulling from the base with one swift pull. Do this immediately before you are going to sugar them so that they stay looking fresh.

- Very gently, dip them into the beaten egg and let any excess drip off (or they will take ages to dry!). Then lay them out onto a plate.

- Sprinkle the sugar over the rose petals, turning them to make sure that they are completely covered.

- You will need to leave them to stand for 2-3 hours so that they dry fully (they will feel a little stiff or crispy).

Once your Rose petals are dry, you can frost the cupcakes!

To make the frosting to generously top your 10 cupcakes you are going to need;

. 220g (8oz) Stork (or butter)

. 440g (16oz) Icing Sugar

. 1 Tablespoon liquid Vanilla

. 4-6 Tablespoons Milk

. Pink Food dye

- Start by combining the Butter & Icing sugar - this will be stiff but keep with it!

- Add your vanilla and gradually add the milk to slightly soften the mixture - you need it to be quite thick so that it holds it shape once piped onto the cake!

- Split the mixture into 2 separate bowls and add a few drops of pink food colouring to one half until you get the exact colour you want.

- Once this is done you can either spoon it straight onto your cooled cupcakes or you can pipe it on with your favorite shaped nozzle - You can buy a great piping set from Lakeland here, their baking tools are my favourite!!

Once your cupcakes are frosted, you can delicately place the rose petals onto the pink cupcakes. I placed 3 onto each cupcake in a triangle shape so they could be seen from each angle.

I placed sliced strawberries onto the white cupcakes for a nice contrast in colour. You can easily slice the strawberries by cutting through them bottom to top, but not so far that they go right through and fall apart, you can then gently fan them out and place them onto the cakes!

These cupcakes look so yummy and beautiful and are sure to make your mum smile! They are so easy to do but look so professional and taste amazing! Try to eat the strawberry cupcakes on the day they are made, or the sliced strawberries can make them a little soggy.

The next way to create beautiful cupcakes for your mum is these Surprise Centre Victoria Sponges! These are a cute alternative to the popular traditional Victoria sandwich cake.

In addition to the cupcake ingredients and frosting ingredients, you are going to need some smooth strawberry jam.

Start by making the basic cupcakes with the same recipe as above and allow them to cool. You will then need to get a cupcake corer (like this one from Lakeland) & remove the centre of your cupcakes - try to leave a bit of cupcake at the bottom so the surprise centre wont spill through and make the case all soggy! If you don't have a cupcake corer, you could use a teaspoon to do it too!

You can then fill the hole in with some smooth strawberry jam! This is such a lovely idea as it is so unexpected and a sweet surprise!

Once this is done, you simply need to frost the cupcakes! I chose to keep the frosting at its usual colour!

They already look so yummy! But as a finishing touch I filled my icing pen (like this one, also from Lakeland) with some more strawberry Jam and delicately drizzled it over the top in a swirly pattern!

These cupcakes are also super easy to make, but the surprise centre gives them something a little different! I recently made some of these for Dans family and they all said how much they loved them!

Whatever you decide to do with a basic cupcake recipe, Just have fun and get creative - there are so many options, designs, colours & flavours to chose from and your mum will love them!